Influence of Selected Teacher Instructional Strategies on Secondary Schools Students’ Mathematics Learning Outcomes.

Abstract

Mathematics is a key subject which students cannot avoid if they have to lead a brighter future. Despite the introduction and implementation of different teaching methods and strategies suggested by researchers, students‟ motivation towards mathematics has persistently been poor. The purpose of this study was to find out the influence of selected teacher instructional strategies on students‟ motivation in mathematics in secondary schools. This entailed the use of Behavioral Objective Based (BOB) Instructional Strategy, Peer Instruction enriched with Concept Tests (PICT), both BOB and PICT (BO-PICT) and Conventional Instruction (TI). This study investigated the relationship between the motivation of students who used BOB, PICT and BO PICT strategies and their counterparts who used TI. The theoretical framework which guided this study was social constructivism theory. This study adopted a pre-test post-test non-equivalent group design. The target population for the study was all form three students in the 38 secondary schools in Mumias sub-county. Stratified random sampling was used to select schools that took part in the study. The strata were boys‟ schools, girls‟ schools and co- educational schools. This study used disproportionate stratified sampling to select 2 schools out of 3 boys‟ schools by saturated sampling, 3 schools out of 10 girls‟ schools and 3 schools out of 25 co-education schools by simple random sampling giving a total of eight (8) schools that participated in the study. One stream selected randomly from each sampled school took part in the study. The Control group (C) used (TI), the Experimental group one (E1) used BOB Instructional Strategy, the Experimental group two (E2) used (PICT) while the Experimental group three (E3) used both BOB and PICT (BO-PICT) in the learning of mathematics. Each group (C, E1, E2, and E3) comprised of two schools selected randomly from the eight schools. Students‟ Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ) was used to collect the required data. The instrument was developed basing on the objective as well as variables in the theoretical model and given to experts in mathematics education to validate. The Split half technique was used to determine the reliability of the research instruments because it requires only one testing session to save on time and it eliminates chance error. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results indicated that there was a significant difference in motivation between all Experimental groups (E1, E2 and E3) and the Control group (C) in favor of the Experimental groups. BOB, PICT and BO-PICT Instructional Strategies were found to be viable instructional strategies that could promote performance in mathematics. Recomemendations were made for the adoption of BOB, PICT and BO-PICT instructional strategies in the teaching of Mathematics in secondary schools. Specifically it was recommended that BO-PICT which was superior to other strategies be adopted in schools for the teaching of mathematics.